Review of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G but are you ready for 5G yet?

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3’s 5G display occupies almost all of the front of the phone. In fact, it has an impressive 94% screen-to-body ratio and all the bezels are as slim as I’ve seen on any phone.

The bottom bezel is slightly thicker than the others but not distracting so. Indeed, in conjunction with the phone’s glossy ceramic body and muted, yet attractive colours, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is a striking thing to both touch and look at.

The superficially at least, the workings of the sliding mechanism have had little impact on the overall design and function of the phone. The Mi Mix 3 is, perhaps, slightly thicker than your average flagship phone, but not significantly so.

Otherwise, it looks and behaves just like any regular Android smartphone.

Volume and power buttons reside on the right-hand edge of the phone,

there’s a shortcut “AI” button on the left for launching Google Assistant and on the bottom edge are a pair of speaker grilles and a USB charging port.

The rear plays host to a small, circular fingerprint reader.

The Mi Mix 3 5G is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Not only does this chipset work in tandem with the new X50 Modem to access the 5G network, but the phone is also fitted with a large 3,800mAh capacity battery.

The Mi Mix 3 5G is exclusive to Vodafone’s mobile network in the UK, it can’t be purchased SIM-free and 24-month 5G contracts start at £56 a month with an upfront cost of £29.

Camera Samples

It’s also a great-looking phone and takes outstanding pictures, courtesy of its dual rear 12-megapixel cameras and 24-megapixel/2-megapixel selfie cameras.

This smartphone is the first 5G smartphone I’ve reviewed so far the first among many launching this year – and like all the others, the Mi Mix 3 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset for 5G connectivity. The is a phone with a large 6.39in 1,080 x 2,340 notch-less AMOLED display and a sliding mechanism that hides the selfie camera away behind the display when it’s not being used.

The way this works is that the phone’s bundled X50 modem is able to connect to sub-6GHz 5G networks with download speeds up to 2Gbits/sec. This low-band frequency isn’t nearly as impressive as the sort of speeds that are expected to be delivered by millimetre wave (mmWave) 5G frequencies in the coming years, but the technology is certainly off to a promising start.

I used Netflix app called Fast to measure average speeds in separate London locations: Hatton Garden, Strand and Westminister.

the speed at Hatton Garden in London

Performance varied quite a bit, reaching lows of 84Mbits/sec and highs of 220Mbits/sec. I never did manage to hit anywhere close to the promised 2Gbits/sec.